‘Oblivion’ Re-Titled ‘Horizons’; Actress Shortlist Revealed

Everybody wants to be Tom Cruise’s (onscreen) lady love interest, judging by the number of either up-and-coming or established starlets that were previously testing for One Shot – and the ones currently being considered to co-star in the A-lister’s return to science fiction, a project formerly known as Oblivion.

Joseph Kosinski’s soon to be published comic book-turned-movie has been periodically referred to as Horizons in the past, but that is now the official title for the filmmaker’s TRON: Legacy followup.

Cruise previously collaborated with Steven Spielberg on the sci-fi flicks Minority Report and War of the Worlds – both of which essentially featured the actor as a “man on the run.” It’s one of the roles the actor does best, and he will do it again in Horizons, as you’ll note in the synopsis below:

In a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak (Cruise) discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows.

Variety has learned there are at least five actresses planning to test this week for the “mysterious woman” role in Horizons, including:

• Jessica Chastain, who delivered what many considered a breakout performance in Tree of Life earlier this year. She recently appeared in The Help and will star in potential awards contenders like The Debt and Coriolanus before the year is out.
• Olga Kurylenko, best known for playing kick-ass warrior gals in movies like Hitman, Quantum of Solace, and Centurion.
• Brit Marling, the writer/starlet of this year’s acclaimed indie drama Another Earth.
• Noomi Rapace, who played Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo adaptation. She is also appearing in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows this winter and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus in 2012.
• Olivia Wilde, a fan-favorite who rose to fame by playing Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on House, M.D. and who most recently appeared in The Change-Up.

The “enigmatic woman who could change the world” part in Horizons would fit Wilde like a glove, seeing how that’s essentially the same role she played in both Kosinski’s TRON: Legacy and Cowboys & Aliens. It sounds as though the Horizons female lead will require someone attractive (but not really “ordinary-looking”) who can also perform a handful of physical stunts and literally keep up alongside Cruise in the film. So, really, any of these potential candidates should work just fine.

Kosinski’s TRON sequel was certainly visually pleasing, if nothing else, which bodes well for his version of a post-invasion scorched Earth in Horizons. He worked on the screenplay to some degree, alongside Oscar-winner William Monahan (The Departed) and Karl Gajdusek (Trespass). So long as those three men are able to craft a competent sci-fi adventure with a creative, yet coherent mythology, there’s no reason that Horizons can’t be a memorable new addition to the genre.

Horizons is scheduled to reach U.S. theaters on July 19th, 2013.

Source: Variety